The present invention relates generally to vehicles and more particularly to control systems for controlling various functions of such vehicles.
Normal operation of heavy duty equipment, such as cranes, excavators and loaders, the operator is constantly required to control various work functions which are usually activated through the use of hand levers. For example, in an excavating operation the operator must constantly actuate the swing and crowd controls to perform the digging operation and manipulate other controls for controlling the vehicle. Many heavy duty industrial vehicles incorporate a hand control which is commonly referred to as a "joy stick" control wherein a single control lever is universally movable and is capable of controlling at least four different functions on a machine. One of the problems that have been encountered with previously known control devices is operator fatigue, since they must constantly manipulate control devices all day long.